The Lion King: Nala's Story
by FFGirl15
Summary: After being born into the pride of King Mufasa, Nala is expecting a happy go lucky life with her new best friend, Simba, and little brother, Mheetu. But when a sudden tragedy involving Mufasa and Simba hits the pridelands, can it be helped by her?
1. Capture

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I thought I'd take a break from writing Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts fanfics and write a Lion King one instead! I know many people have probably already tried this, but I'm gonna do it anyway!**

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Chapter 1: Capture

Just like the sun, life comes and goes. It rises and sets. Children of God are born and they die. Every day, a new life is introduced to the world and every day, a new life is taken from this world. For this couple, a new life was to be introduced to the world for them. They had been waiting for almost four months for this day to come. It had started back in the early summer and was now early fall. The weather was warm enough since it was nearing summer by now. The grass was green, the sky was blue, and the jungle in Africa was at peace. Life could never be better for this young couple.

The young lion of about 3 years old finally woke up from his evening slumber. Walking out of his cave, he felt the bristly grass brush against his sharp-clawed paws. It was a damp morning in September when the lion finally let out a proud roar to welcome the morning and the children of the east African jungle. The lion moved his big head, which had a big, hairy, brown mane around his neck, and checked out the wild savannah. There were gazelles trampling through the grassy fields. Elephants were getting their morning baths over by the lake cleaning themselves and their young. Giraffes and Zebras were feeding on leaves from trees and below the trees. When the lion turned his head, he noticed that the cave was empty. His mate must've been out hunting.

She was indeed hunting. Every day, she would go hunt three times a day to catch the prey to feed the proud couple. His furry lips curled into a grin as he watched his mate of beautiful, pale tan fur and bright green eyes, trot over carrying the corpse of a wildebeest that she had caught on her hunt. The lioness of 2 ½ years old dropped the carcass at her mate's feet and sat down right in front of him. She also smiled at him proudly and looked down at her stomach that was quite rounder than it should've been. The lion came over and sat next to her. He nuzzled her neck and then her stomach a bit. His mate leaned over to his ear a little bit to whisper something.

"It's almost time." She said. "I can feel it. Can't you, Haru?"

"What should we name it, Sarafina?" Haru asked.

"If it's a boy, I like Mheetu. But I couldn't think of a girl's name."

"How about Nala?"

"Nala? Well, maybe. I think we should count on Mheetu. I have a good feeling it's gonna be a boy. Is that alright?" Sarafina asked as she gave her mate a kiss.

"You're carrying the cub. It's your choice. How much longer do you think?"

"At least one to two more days."

The couple was indeed expecting a baby. It will be kind of tough for the new couple. Leo was already king of the jungle, so it'll be especially hard for him to stay home and raise a cub, but with his queen beside him, their family will be complete. Sarafina tapped the meat for the morning in Haru's direction. He licked his lips and began to rip some of the meat from the dead carcass. The expectant parents enjoyed their breakfast in peace watching all of the other animals do the same. Or at least, they did at first.

Haru's ears twitched and he jerked his head in a different direction. Many other animals' heads jerked the same way. They were all staring out into the direction that the sound came from. Haru began to sniff what was going on. Whatever it was, it didn't smell very good to him. He began to growl and moved in front of Sarafina. The other animals of the savannah began to dash in the opposite direction of where the sound came from. Haru directed Sarafina in the direction where all of the animals were running. The two of them began to run with the rest of them. Haru, however, dashed ahead of everyone to guide them all to someplace safe.

While the chase was on, everyone was safe. At least Haru thought everyone was safe. Well, not everyone was safe. He stopped in his tracks and looked back and saw something hanging from a tree. It was a net. The net wasn't that important. What was important was who was inside of it. It was Sarafina! His mate had fallen into a trap. Haru dashed back to where Sarafina was dangling from a tree roaring for help. The whole time he ran, he thought about the safety of her, the jungle, and his new cub that was on the way. Without a doubt, he was going to save his mate no matter what the cost was.

He made it to where Sarafina was. Haru stood up on his hind legs with his front legs balancing himself in front of the tree. He looked up at Sarafina with worried eyes wondering if she was okay. With one of his paws, Haru tried cut the net, but the plan was ruined. There were humans running over towards him with spears, guns, and torches. He crouched into a defense position and began roaring at them. Instead of running, the humans started shooting at him with their guns and threw their spears at him. One of them kept Haru busy while the others cut the net from the tree and began to carry Sarafina in a cage through the jungle.

Haru made a run for them to find some way to set Sarafina free, but as he did, he felt a sharp pain go into his arm. The jungle king fell onto the ground hard. His arm was numb and he began to pant a bit at the pain. It only got him in the arm, so Haru was alright enough to be alive. While the other humans ran off to catch up with the rest who had Sarafina, Haru focused on standing back up on all fours to continue on. With one of his arms still numb, the lion was able to regain his balance and start running again. He wasn't as fast as he was before he was shot, it'll have to do. He took off as fast as he could.

As he ran through the tree branches and bushes, they kept on smacking him in the face. Every time that happened, Haru groaned. His leg was really starting to feel painful, but he wasn't going to let these men take away his mate and cub. Haru ran through everything and saw the boat that was at the port at the ocean. In his mind, he was thinking that he made it and everything was going to be okay, but the truth was, everything wasn't as okay as he wanted it to be.

When Haru got to the port, the boat was already leaving. It was too late for anybody to get on now, but it was never too late for Haru. He stepped back a few feet and began dashing over to the edge of the port. When he had his feet just right at the tip edge, Haru leaped off of the port over the ocean and to the boat. The boat was a good twenty feet away, so he barely made it over. The exhausted lion stood there panting also at his leg, which was still numb after the shot. Haru heard footsteps coming toward him in the same area he was in. He looked up and saw the same men that shot him holding up a gun aiming at him.

"Haru!" Sarafina called out to him from inside her cage. Receiving the warning, Haru jumped out of the way of the gun that was fired at him. He roared at the men trying to scare them off.

"Well, waddaya know, men! We've got ourselves a vicious one!" The man holding the gun said back to the other men with other weapons. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" Haru responded by roaring at them again and jumping on the man who called to him.

"Joe! Are you insane?" One of the men called out to the one who Haru pounced on.

"I think so!" Joe responded out of fear. He was shaking with major fear as he stared into Haru's big eyes. It looked like this lion was about to kill Joe. Haru's glare calmed down and he stepped off of Joe, but grabbed the gun in his mouth and threw it away from him.

"Haru! You came back!" Sarafina called out to him happily.

"Sarafina!" Haru ran over to the cage. "Don't worry. I'll have you out soon." He began to yank the lock on the cage. "Damn, this thing is on tight."

"Look out!" Sarafina screamed at the top of her lungs. Before Haru had time to look, Joe stabbed him in the back.

"There! Now we'll finally get the female to the zoo without any trouble!" Joe said laughing like a maniac. "Steve, Ben, Sam, go get the incinerator ready so we can dispose of this body!" Joe left the deck and went inside of the boat leaving the dying king of the jungle with his mate alone.

"Sarafina, I'm not going to make it." Haru said weakly lying in front of the cage.

"Haru, you have to! I'm carrying your baby! Please, don't die!"

"If our cub is a girl, name her Nala. That's all I ask of you." The dying lion requested stretching his paw out towards Sarafina. She stretched out her paw too.

"Nala? I will!" Sarafina's eyes began to water.

"At least…I got to see you…one…last…" Haru said his last words before he passed out into a lifeless sleep.

"Haru!" Sarafina cried.

Sarafina began to sit inside her cage and cry. Out of sadness, she lifted her head up and roared. Her mate was dead and now she had to give birth to their cub without him. Unfortunately, none of the other animals back in the jungle will ever know about Haru's death. There won't be another ruler of the jungle for a long time either. Sarafina had a sudden thought flow through her mind. How will she tell her cub that they'll never get to meet their father? It was going to be hard, but she'll have to.

Joe came back out onto the deck to collect Haru's dead body and took it inside to burn it. Sarafina was still crying at the moment. Just like his cruel boss would do, Sam took the whip and whacked Sarafina as hard as he could. She cried out in pain and started roaring at Sam. He freaked out and dropped the whip as he stood back. Knowing that he feared her, Sarafina continued roaring at him until she heard a gunshot. It turned out that Joe had fired his gun out into the sky, not at her. Sarafina had closed her eyes when the gunshot was fired, but then she opened her eyes realizing that she was still alive.

"Hmph, that oughta shut her up!" Joe said putting his gun away.

"What the hell? Why don't you just kill the damn thing? She's useless for all I care!" Sam asked looking at his boss in shock. "Besides, you killed the male. Why not kill the other one?"

"Because Sam, remember, Boss needs a little 'expansion' on his African lion habitat. And how do you expand a species? You reproduce. And how does a lion reproduce, it mates with a female! So, this female is going to be the answer to a massive reproduction in the habitat!"

"Are you sure that can even happen? This female was already with a male. As far as I'm concerned she could've already given birth or is pregnant. If that's happened, she'll probably reject the male back at the zoo." Sam asked in a thoughtful way.

"Then, we'll destroy her then!" Joe and Sam walked off with Joe laughing like a maniac. Sarafina watched sadly as the men went back inside the ship with the dead body.

"Haru…" Sarafina said softly looking up into the bright, blue sky.

Sarafina roared one last time before Ben and Steve came out to roll her cage into the ship. Inside of the ship, there were many other animals that had been captured before Sarafina was. A mother Wildebeest was caring for her sick baby while a baby warthog was shivering and hiding behind his mother. There was even an old hippopotamus that looked like he was ready to die any minute, yet the men still captured the poor thing. The tired lioness planted herself at the bottom of her cage and rested her head on top of her paws.

While she rested, Sarafina thought about everything that happened today. She thought about what will happen in the future. She thought about how she will have to raise her child in a zoo instead of the wide open jungle like she pictured. The sun was getting higher as the morning soon turned to afternoon. Sarafina decided to shut her eyes and get some sleep to pass the time it will take to get to America.

She woke up only to find that it was late afternoon and everyone was still on the boat. Sarafina looked through her cage and out the window. She sighed. Starting to feel a sharp pain in her stomach, Sarafina lay down and relaxed herself again.

"How long have we been traveling?" Sarafina asked herself.

"Five hours." The wise hippo replied in a cage next to her. "It will be a long time before we reach America. Days, even weeks as far as I know."

Sarafina sighed. "I have to get to land. I can't have a baby on a boat. Who are you? Have I seen you before?"

"My name is Khalfani. You're King Haru's mate, Sarafina, are you not?" He asked.

Sarafina nodded in reply.

"I thought so. I knew Haru's father. We were great friends when we were youngsters. Haru told me you are expecting a baby. I congratulate you. Unfortunately, now's not a good time to be celebrating. We are all being shipped off to a zoo in America. The men who captured us keep saying that one of the zoos don't have enough creatures for their habitats. So, they're taking creatures that they need. But not just any creatures. They're capturing ones of the opposite sex that they already have.

"They can't just capture young creatures and raise them. The ones they have already are too old to mate with the youngsters. So, they're capturing older animals that can continuously reproduce two-three times a year. If they reproduce too much, they either sell those unneeded or destroy them to use as stuffed animals for the human children or sometimes they even use them as furniture for housing.

"My father was taken away when I was just a youngster. They wanted his skeleton for an African exhibit in a museum in Spain. Humans are always a problem in the jungle. They're trying to destroy our homes for their own selfish needs. Whether it's money, or land, or any other useless crap. And because of that, many species have now become endangered. Before we know it, we'll all go extinct. The only thing left of us will be fossilized body parts, molds, or imprints."

Sarafina gasped as she started really getting into this story. "Is that what humans really use us for? To make money or just for plain cruelty?" She began to tear up.

"Yes. The only other thing they use us for, is for entertainment like movies." Khalfani replied looking down on the ground.

"No, I can't let that happen to my child." Sarafina said softly to herself. She then started ramming herself against the iron barred cage hurting her shoulder in the process of it.

"Easy now." Khalfani calmed her down. "We can open the cage, but you could get killed trying to swim across that ocean. We'll reach South Africa by tomorrow. Our good elephant friends over there will yank open the cage for you with their trunks and then you can go wherever you want."

"Oh, thank you, so much." Sarafina teared up.

The young lioness lay down in her cage looking out a window at the clouds that were passing by. 'Tomorrow,' she thought to herself, 'you and I will escape, little one.'

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**Author's Note: Next chapter will be here soon! Until then, please leave a review letting me know how you like it!**


	2. Escape

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm glad this fanfic's becoming a hit! Trust me, it'll get much better once Nala is born, but for now, it's about Sarafina.**

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Chapter 2: Escape

It was the next morning. Everyone was sound asleep. At least, everyone except for Khalfani. He was snoring the entire night, but each one of the animals slept through it just fine. Sarafina slept soundly with her cub also sleeping soundly inside her womb. Once in a while, she would feel the unborn cub kick from within. At first it bugged her, but she got used to it and now enjoyed knowing the fact that there was a little life that she created inside of her. Sarafina felt the cub kick early that morning and chuckled in excitement that just in a matter of days her new cub would be here.

Sarafina cracked her eyes open at the sound of a blowing horn. She shot her head up to look out the window to figure out where she was. The young lioness stood up and stretched out before looking outside. There, she saw it. It was another port. There were a lot of people on it. They were mainly traders and salesmen. Sarafina could even see the guys that had captured her step off the boat and mutter amongst each other about the day's activities. She was then greeting by a pain in her stomach. It wasn't a terrible pain, but enough to cause her discomfort. She was hungry. She was a good lioness though and was able to control her hunger while there was prey in the boat.

Khalfani and the rest of the animals began to wake up one by one after Sarafina lay back down in her cage. The wise hippo looked at Sarafina with concern. She didn't look too good. She was starting to look weaker than she was when she first came on the boat. Khalfani was mainly concerned about the cub's condition and how it was adjusting to not getting any food for 24 hours. He tapped her cage, which was right next to his, as a signal that it was time for her to bust out there. Sarafina stood up and got ready to make her move.

"You ready for this, Sarafina?" Khalfani asked.

"Wait, where should I go after I escape?"

"I know where to go." A raspy old voice from a cage across from Sarafina.

She peaked over to see who it was. Inside of the cage was an old looking lion with a golden-colored pelt and a black mane. He looked very sick and like he was going to die any minute now. The old, sick lion slowly tried to get up and inched his way over to where the door to his cage was. After barely making it to the door, the lion collapsed. Sarafina stared at him in concern wondering if he was going to make it or not. Still, whether he weak or not, the lion still spoke what he had to say.

"Who are you?" Sarafina asked.

"Ahadi." He choked out. "I come from the Pridelands."

"The Pridelands?"

"Yes." Ahadi continued. "You want to get out of here? You want a beautiful place to raise your cub? You don't want to be stuck here with these humans?" Sarafina nodded in reply to all of his questions. "Then go to the Pridelands. As soon as you land in port, go east. You'll eventually end up on a beach, keep going until you see a lush, green rainforest. Go there. Then, go north. Keep going north until you come across an oasis that is known as "Hakuna Matata". Once you reach that, turn west until you come to a desert. Then, you turn South and keep going until you see a canyon of Wildebeest. If you see that, turn east. Once you turn east, just keep going until you see a lush savannah. When you see that, you've made it."

"Okay, I'll remember that." Sarafina promised herself.

"But as soon as you get there, look for a tall pointy rock called Pride Rock. Go to the rock. There, you should find a lion called, Mufasa. Tell him of your condition and that I sent you. He should welcome you to his pride. He's very welcoming to newcomers, especially those who are expecting."

"Pride Rock… Mufasa…got it."

"Good…" Ahadi coughed out. "…luck." The old lion then passed out from exhaustion and lay there almost lifeless.

"Ahadi…" Sarafina said his named softly trying to wake him up.

"There's no time Sarafina. If you're going to escape, now's the time before everyone gets back." Khalfani stopped her. She looked over at the hippo and nodded in approval.

"Okay, stand back, everyone!" A large elephant extended his trunk across to Sarafina's cage and started yanking at the lock that was keeping the door locked. It was staying put, though. It wouldn't budge. "Looks like these humans were smart and got stronger locks."

"So then how am I supposed to get out of here?" Sarafina started to panic a little. Within seconds, they saw the knob on the door turn. "No! They're coming in!"

"Don't worry, they're only coming in to feed us. We'll try again once they leave." Khalfani assured her.

The animals were silent as Joe came walking in slowly holding a large, heavy bucket. It smelled a lot like gravy to Sarafina. Joe walked around the room scooping a large scoop of whatever was in the bucket into each of the carnivorous mammals' bowls. Sarafina was surprised at how calm the animals were whenever Joe opened their doors to serve them their breakfast. That was when she got an idea. She lay there looking as if she had calm down from what had happened the day before. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, Joe came around and stopped in front of her cage. She stood up and watched deeply into the human's evil eyes.

"Well, well, well. Looks like somebody's hungry." Joe snickered. "Hungry for some chopped 'mate' served in gravy?"

Mate, that was the word that caused Sarafina's anger alarm to go off inside of her. How dare they speak of her mate like that! She dug her claws into the floor and waited for Joe to open the door. He unlocked it and then began to crack it open. As soon as he wasn't expecting it, she lunged at Joe causing him fall back and dump the rest of the lioness' food all over him. She roared and started running out of the room and onto the deck of the boat. Sam, Ben, and Steve were all on the deck as well. Ben ran over to a fire alarm that was on the outside of the boat and sounded it off to warn any other passengers on or near the boat.

Sam and Steve got right to work when they saw that Sarafina had escaped her cage and was now currently running around the ship trying to find a way to get off of it. They had everything from guns to nets to whips in their hands. Their first, and dumbest, idea was to try and chase the escaped lioness to see if they could catch her. Of course, that wouldn't work. Sarafina was much too fast for them. She may have been very pregnant, but that didn't mean that she was weak. She was able to outrun the two stupid men for a specific amount of time before she grew too tired and needed a rest. There was no place for her to hide on the ship, so she had to find a way off and quick.

She saw a ramp going down to the port. Right now, Sarafina couldn't keep up with all of the chasing around. She found a way off the ship and ran down the ramp to the port. Of course, now the citizens were freaking out because there was a live lioness running around the area. She needed a place to hide. Sarafina frantically looked around the port looking for someplace where she could relax and hide for now. She gasped when she saw a small little cove not too far from her current position. It was on the beach, so it was about a good mile away, but anywhere away from these humans was what she wanted more than anything at the moment. Sarafina, although exhausted, ran the extra mile to the beach and found a cove to rest at.

The young lioness couldn't run anymore. She sat there panting as her heart rate was higher than normal. From her point of view, it looked like the humans were wondering what had just happened and would forget about her within minutes. Sarafina felt like she could leave the cove as soon as she caught her breath and start on her long journey to the Pridelands. She knew it would a long and perilous journey, but she was in no condition to give up now, not when she had a cub on the way. Sarafina did what Ahadi told her to do, which was to head east until she found a lush, green rainforest.

She walked for a long time. It was a good three miles until she found the rainforest. Sarafina entered the moist area that was full of life. The sound of running water nearby made her thirsty. She made her way over to a small pond and took a drink of water. As dew dripped from the leaves above her, she enjoyed the ice cold water as she scooped it into her mouth with her tongue. During her enjoyment, a large fish, which what looked like a pirahna, popped out and attempted to snap at her nose. 'I thought there were no pirahnas in Africa,' (A/N: Haha, though I'd throw that in there for a little humor XD) she thought to herself as she moved on.

Next part of the journey was the toughest. She had to go through the large, parched, and dry desert. There was no sign of food or water. There weren't even any animals currently, except for a bunch of buzzards, but none of them would come down, so she couldn't hunt them. Sarafina allowed the dry, hot sun beat on her pale tan fur as she slowly and miserably made her way over to the Pridelands. Every now and then, there would be a large boulder or a small dying tree that would supply shade for her. At that point, she'd take the opportunity and lie down under the tree or boulder to get in a little rest. It didn't help her hunger or thirst, though.

It was about seven miles of death that Sarafina stumbled through. After making it to the Wildebeest canyon, she thought that she might as well give up and hope for some other animal to find her and take her to the Pridelands. When it came to that, luck wasn't on her side, but fate was. While she lay down in the blazing hot afternoon, she felt a kick in her stomach. Her cub was very active. Sarafina sat up and looked down on her stomach only to get another kick from it. She chuckled once again as she thought of her cub saying, 'Mama, don't give up, you're getting close'. Sarafina got up realizing that it's possible that she might be dead now if it weren't for her cub.

Sarafina made it another two miles before she got too tired again. This time, though, she found a nice, large tree to sit under. This thing was huge, too. It was also nighttime. Sarafina wanted to sleep, but there was another part of her that was telling her that she should just stop here. The young lioness, tired and hungry, lay down and rested her head on top of her sore paws from walking so much. While she lay down, she felt her cub kicking again. Although she normally enjoyed it, right now, she was getting annoyed by it because she wanted to be strong for her cub, but she was only a lioness and wasn't invincible.

"Little one, I know you want me to go one," Sarafina started to talk to the unborn cub. "But, I'm just one lioness. I can't make it any further."

"Giving up, are we?" A screeching sound was heard from above her.

"Huh?" Sarafina watched as a mandrill hang from the large limb of the tree. "Who are you?"

"Ah!" The mandrill jumped from the tree in front of her. "The question is…who are you?"

"I'm Sarafina. I'm…" She began to say.

"Shush!" Sarafina was shushed by the mandrill and he began to stare at her weirdly. "I know what you're looking for."

"You do?"

"You listen to Rafiki, and you shall see!" The mandrill sat on a rock as he began to meditate. "You are looking for the Pridelands, land of Mufasa, no?"

"That's it! You know where they are?"

"Oh! I know where they are!" Rafiki pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "It's a secret."

"Okay, so how am I supposed to make it there, then?"

"You must look beyond what you see." Rafiki meditated once again.

"Beyond what I see?" Sarafina asked confused. "How do I do that? All I see are some small trees…and some grass…and…wait a minute! I'm already here! Am I?" With that, Rafiki just simply smiled and kept his pose. "I've really made it! And look…" Sarafina ran up a few inches to get a slightly closer look as what she was looking at. "…I think I see Pride Rock from here!"

"Well done." Rafiki hopped up onto his hind legs. "Now, you must make the journey to Pride Rock and see the great Mufasa."

"That should be easy, right?"

"Ah, don't get cocky. There's still mother nature's dangers that you should beware."

"Like what?"

"You go, you'll see." Rafiki hopped back up into his tree without a trace.

Sarafina just stared up into the tree wondering if she had really spoken to a crazy monkey a few minutes ago. It didn't matter to her right now. She had made the long, difficult journey to the Pridelands and all she had to do now was make it to Pride Rock. Sarafina was so excited, she didn't notice that she was still hungry and thirst. She started to make a fast paced dash across the grassy savannah towards the large, pointy rock. Everything was going great for her until she suddenly couldn't go on any longer. This time, it wasn't because she was tired, but because she was in pain, a lot of pain. The pain was coming from her stomach. Sarafina stopped and sat panting in pain.

"It's…it's time." Sarafina knew what was happening, Her cub was coming. It was time to give birth to her cub.

"Yep, yep, it most certainly is time." A snickering voice was heard from behind Sarafina. She turned around to see some dark gray and black spotted creatures creeping toward her. There were a lot of them too, about twenty of them. "Time for dinner."

"Dinner? What?" She asked almost sounding like she was out of breath.

"Looks like you've got a lot of meat on your bones, miss." One of the creatures stepped closer to her. "Hyenas, there's twenty of us and one of her. It's time to chow down!"

Within a quick flash of seconds, about three hyenas lunged at Sarafina. There was no way she was going to be able to fight in this condition. One after another, she smacked them all away from her, but about four more would just jump on her afterwards. She could barely fight. Sarafina managed to get out of the ambush, but that didn't mean that the hyenas were done going after her. They started to chase after her. Sarafina, in excruciating pain and discomfort, ran as fast as she could until she couldn't go any further. Because of her condition and how hard she was working herself, Sarafina grew tired and collapsed onto the ground.

On the ground, Sarafina grew light-headed and she started to drift off. As she fell unconscious, she was greeted by a large lion with golden fur and a red mane as he fought off the hyenas.

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**Author's Note: Yay! Chapter 2 is done! Next chapter's coming soon! I enjoy hearing what your guys' opinions are so keep reviewing please!**


	3. Birth

**Author's Note: Yay! I'm on a roll here! I've never been updating a fanfic at rapid fire speed like this! Thanks for keeping me motivated, readers!**

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Chapter 3: Birth

"Miss? Miss, please wake up!"

Sarafina, who was covered in sweat and was still panting from pain, opened her eyes slightly and found herself making eye contact with two tall lions. One of them, was bigger than the other. He had golden-colored fur with a red mane while the other one had pale yellow fur and a brown mane. They were both starting at her in concern. Sarafina, who was in the worst condition she had ever been in her life, smiled weakly at them thinking that they saved her from those dreadful hyenas.

"Good to see you're awake." The bigger lion chuckled.

"Thank you." She said weakly.

"I'm Mufasa. This is my best friend, Ni." The lion introduced himself and his smaller friend.

"That was a close one with the hyenas, huh?" Ni asked.

"Yes." Sarafina nodded.

"You look like you're in terrible condition, what's wrong?"

"It's…my cub. It's coming."

"A cub?" Mufasa asked in shock. "That's a different story."

With that, Sarafina let out another excruciating loud screech. Mufasa and Ni cowered from the sound nearly becoming deaf. It was then that Sarafina would continue to cry her blue eyes out from the pain and torture that this unborn cub was causing her. Mufasa ran off to get Rafiki for the birth and Ni sat by Sarafina's side and did his best to comfort her. Although she was in pain, Sarafina enjoyed having this kind of comfort. This was the kind of comfort that she was hoping for back when Haru was alive, but it was what it was and Sarafina accepted that.

Mufasa came back relatively quickly with the howling baboon. Rafiki, equipped with this stick and an extremely large leaf, stood near Sarafina giving her a check up. Her fur was now sopping wet from sweating for the longest time. Rafiki checked her pulse. It was normal. He checked her eyes. They were still blue as they can be. He checked her tongue fearing that she could be sick now. Sarafina was just fine. It was then that Rafiki decided that she had waited long enough and that it was time for Sarafina to finally deliver her long awaited cub.

"You are healthy." Rafiki then placed the giant leaf behind her. "It is time."

"Really?" Sarafina asked it almost as if she were dreaming it.

"You can do it." Mufasa said supporting her.

"I…I hope so." She said with her eyes tearing up. "…I don't know if I can do this without Haru."

"You have to, there's no turning back now." Ni said placing his paw on her sopping wet forehead.

"You're right."

"The cub…it is coming. You must deliver now!" Rafiki said breaking up the conversation.

"Okay."

Sarafina straightened up and began her business. It was the hardest thing she ever did. The pain, the discomfort, the physical strength, it was wearing her out more than anything else ever did. She also cried. Each one, it hurt worst than the one before. Sarafina knew that regardless of the pain, each push meant that the cub was getting closer and closer to being born. After four of them, Rafiki saw the cub. It wasn't out yet. Sarafina, using what physical strength she had left, officially finished giving birth to the cub. The cub lay there on the leaf that Rafiki laid out squirming around with its eyes shut.

"The cub…it is here." Rafiki said laughing.

"Is it?" Sarafina asked with a sigh of relief.

"Yes. You should be proud."

The cub was picked up by Rafiki and carried over to Sarafina, who was now panting from exhaustion. Rafiki set the cub down in Sarafina's arms. She looked down at her brand new cub. The cub looked identical to her. Sarafina could tell right then that the cub was a girl. The cub, who lay on her back in her mother's arms, started cracking her eyes open. She even had the same colored eyes as Sarafina. The new mother lioness smiled and started to lick the cub's back. The cub, who was enjoying this, looked up at her mother and barely cracked a small smile. Sarafina licked her cub's stomach only to get a lick on the nose from the cub.

"Nala…" Sarafina said her new cub's name softly. Out of respect for Haru's dying wish, she had named her daughter, Nala.

Nala tilted her head slightly after hearing her mother's voice for the first time. Sarafina then started to nuzzle Nala who nuzzled back. Rafiki looked down at the newborn cub proudly and chuckled. Mufasa and Ni also looked down at Nala and smiled in happiness that Sarafina got what she always wanted. During their time of bonding, another lion, this time a tan one with a black mane and green eyes wondered in and joined the others. He looked like he either currently had one or just got over a headache. The lion also had a scar on his left eye. He walked over and got Mufasa's attention.

"Mufasa, what in Ahadi's name was that _despicable _screech?" The lion asked.

"First, Scar, you do not use our father's name in vain around here and second, that 'despicable' screech came from our guest." Mufasa moved so Scar could see who it was that made the screech.

"Who are you?" Mufasa's brother asked Sarafina.

"I'm Sarafina."

"Thrilled to meet you." Scar said without any enthusiasm.

"Sarafina, may I ask this: do you have a pride that you're apart of?" Mufasa asked.

"Actually, no." She answered. "It was just me and Haru."

"Then allow me to invite you to join our pride."

"Yes Mufasa," Scar remarked. "Just what we need, another lioness in our already large pride."

"Oh. Well, if you already have a large pride, then I probably shouldn't…" Sarafina began to say.

"Oh, never mind what Scar says." Mufasa interrupted.

"Yeah, he's just a jerk because he's the youngest." Ni added on.

"Don't make me feel worse." Scar said.

"Hey Scar, why don't you just go take a kitty nap and get rid of your headache."

"Sounds like heaven." Scar said to Ni sarcastically before leaving.

"Anyway, before Mufasa's jerk-of-a-brother ruined everything, we want you to stay with us."

"Well…" Sarafina began to answer. She then looked down at Nala. "What do you think, Nala?" Nala simply responded by blinking her eyes. "Okay, we'll stay."

"Welcome to our pride." Mufasa welcomed Sarafina and Nala.

After being welcomed, Mufasa and Ni left Sarafina so she and Nala could have some peace and quiet to themselves. The two lions were assuming that the lionesses were going to be sleeping for a while, but it was exactly the opposite of that. Now that Nala was here, Sarafina didn't want to go to sleep. She wanted to bond with her cub. She began to lick Nala giving her first bath. Nala enjoyed the comfort that her mother was giving her. Sarafina cleaned everywhere. She cleaned Nala's head, neck, chin, back, arms, stomach, ears, and even around her tail. Sarafina could tell that when Nala grows, it'll be easy to give her baths compared to other cubs that she's seen that hate baths.

Sarafina finished cleaning Nala off. She then allowed Nala to try and get up and move around a bit. Nala attempted to stand up, but failed miserably and kept falling on the ground. However, the cub was tough. She would keep trying to get up no matter what. Eventually, Sarafina brought Nala back into her arms so that the two lionesses could get a nap in. Nala curled up in her mother's arms and was soon sound asleep. Sarafina smiled down at her daughter knowing that even though she looked nothing like him, Nala definitely had Haru's personality and was going to turn into a very tough, yet wonderful lioness with a heart of gold.

Nala and Sarafina slept for a little while before they were greeted by a member of the pride. She was a lioness as well. She had light brown fur and reddish brown eyes. Sarafina woke up at the sound of her stepping in. Upon making eye contact with her, she felt as if she had known this lioness for a really long time. Right now, her memory was rather hazy, so she brushed it off and greeted the friendly-looking lioness. Nala continued to sleep as Sarafina started to converse with the lioness.

"I heard about a new pride member, you must be her." The lioness said sitting in front of Sarafina.

"Yes, I'm Sarafina."

"Sarafina? That's funny. I knew a Sarafina when I was a cub."

"Really?" Sarafina thought for a moment. "By any chance is your name, Sarabi?"

"Why, yes it is."

"Sarabi!" She and Sarabi shared a moment of reunion as the two lionesses nuzzled each other. "It's been so long."

"I know, you've grown so much."

"So have you. I had no idea you lived in this pride."

"I never expected to be queen of the Pridelands either." Sarabi said revealing that she was Mufasa's mate.

"Oh, so you're Mufasa's mate?" Sarafina asked. Sarabi nodded. "Well, he's a good one. How'd you guys end up together?"

"Well…it's a long and funny story." She laughed.

"Go ahead and tell it. I'm not going anywhere." Sarafina said looking down at Nala, who was now yawning and waking up. Sarabi got closer to Nala and took a look at her.

"She's a beautiful cub. What'd you name her?"

"Nala. I couldn't think of a girl's name, so her father, Haru, came up with the name." She lowered her head after mentioning Haru. "It was his dying wish that I name our daughter, Nala."

"I'm so sorry." Sarabi said sympathetically. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

"Thank you, Sarabi." Sarafina thanked her friend. "So, it sounded like you were going to tell your story."

"Oh, I probably shouldn't." Sarabi stood up. "I left Simba with Mufasa and who knows what could happen if Mufasa falls asleep."

"Who's Simba?"

"Oh, I haven't told you." She laughed. "Simba's mine and Mufasa's son."

"I didn't know you had a cub."

"He was just born about a week ago." Sarabi lay down as Nala struggled to stay up again. "The little guy is already trying to learn how to walk. There were two cubs that were also born not too long ago, Chumvi and Kula. I think the three cubs and Nala could become great friends."

"Do you think I could come see Simba?" Sarafina asked.

"You probably shouldn't get up while in your condition, but I'll go get Simba."

"Thanks, Sarabi."

Sarafina waited and watched Nala stumble around while Sarabi left to grab her cub, Simba. After a few minutes, Sarabi came walking back in holding a small cub in her mouth. The cub looked like Mufasa. He had golden colored fur and was getting a small tuft of hair on top of his small head. The young cub was asleep, so his eyes were shut. After getting close enough, Sarabi lay down in front of Sarafina and also set down her little cub in her arms in front of her. Sarafina smiled as she saw Nala sleeping once again in her arms and Simba sleeping in Sarabi's arms.

"He's adorable." Sarafina complimented Simba.

"Thank you. He's usually not this quiet. He must've been up all night last night."

"I think him and Nala would be great friends."

"Friends? Try imagining them getting married and having cubs." Sarabi joked around. After the two lionesses shared a laugh, they paused, looked down at the cubs and then looked at each other. One lioness knew what the other one was thinking.

"That's actually not a bad idea."

"You're right."

"If they're adorable now, I can't wait to see what their cubs would look like." Sarafina laughed a little.

"I can only imagine my little Simba having a Simba Jr." Sarabi sighed looking down at Simba.

"Or having a 'daddy's little girl'." Both lionesses were quiet after Sarafina suddenly thought of something. "The only problem is that they may not fall in love."

"No, but…" Sarabi began to say. "…we could always betroth them."

"Oh…we could. And we should." Sarafina suggested. "What do you think, Sarabi? Betrothals?"

"As long as Mufasa approves of it, which I'm sure he will. So, I think they're officially betrothals."

Sarafina and Sarabi agreed upon Simba and Nala being betrothed as they each looked down on their cubs awaiting the day that they could officially meet for the first time.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yay! Nala's finally been born! Next chapter, Simba and Nala meet for the first time. So, review and the chapter shall be up ASAP! And yes, I'm using Ni from _Nala's Dare_ as a minor character in this fanfic and you'll see why. Also, expect to see some of the other lions from that _Six New Adventures_ Lion King book make appearances in this fanfic as well. Anyway, without further adieu, thanks for reading and reviewing and chapter 4 will be up soon!**


	4. Girl Meets Boy

**Author's Note: Chapter 4! Yay! Okay, now Nala will finally start being officially apart of this fanfic! Enjoy!**

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Chapter 4: Girl Meets Boy

Eight weeks had passed by since Sarafina joined Mufasa's pride and gave birth to her daughter. Nala had now grown some since then. She was now 1/2 of her size bigger than she was when she was first born. Nala could now walk, talk, and understand what others were saying. She was not old enough to start hunting, though. However, Sarafina was looking forward to when she could start teaching Nala how to hunt. From what she's seen Nala do, she could already tell that it'll be easy to teach her. So far, Nala's been seen trying to hunt down flying bugs and birds while playing in the Pridelands.

Also, in the past eight weeks, Sarafina had grown close to Mufasa's friend, Ni. During the first month after Nala was born, Ni had spent a lot of time with Sarafina helping take care of Nala so that she could go hunting for herself and not have to rely on Sarabi or any other lionesses to hunt for her. After a month, Ni and Sarafina fell in love with each other and have been close for the past month. Now, the young couple was expecting a cub that was due in the next few months. Sarafina was looking forward to Nala having a new playmate.

Sarafina was now bathing Nala getting her ready to go and meet Sarabi's son, Simba, for the very first time. Nala had already met Simba the day she was born(sort of), but she didn't remember, so now she was ready to officially meet Simba. Every time Sarafina and Sarabi talked about each other's cubs, they'd always get excited about the idea of the cubs getting together and ruling the Pridelands. Sarafina finished bathing Nala and was now starting to walk her over towards the water hole where Sarabi and Simba were waiting for them.

"Mom, where are we going today?" Nala asked as they left Pride Rock.

"We are going to the water hole, today." Sarafina answered. "It's a very beautiful place. There's lots of trees, water, and animals to play with."

"Why haven't I been there before?"

"You weren't big enough, but now that you are, I'm going to have to let you and your friends go play."

"So why are we going today?" Nala continued her 'ask tons of questions' phase.

"We're going to meet my friend, Sarabi, and her cub, Simba."

"So, it's like a play date."

"Something like that. Sarabi and I are going to take sun baths and you and Simba can play in the water.

"Oh! I want to take a bath!" Nala said excited.

"It's not that kind of bath. A sun bath is when you lie down and bake in the sun."

"Oh." She held her head low.

"But you'll get another bath by playing in the water."

"Okay, so Simba is a cub like me?'

"Yes he is."

"Oh, he's a boy."

"Yes, is there anything wrong with that?" Sarafina asked.

"Aren't boys messy?"

"Well, some are, some aren't. I'm sure Simba will be a very nice little cub to play with." She then turned and looked at Nala. "Now, when we get there, you have to be polite to him and Sarabi, okay?"

"Yes, mom." Nala answered.

* * *

Sarabi was sitting at the water hold and had just barely made it through giving her son, Simba, a bath. Bathing him was always such a hassle for Sarabi because of how stubborn he was about his hygiene. By now, Simba was nine weeks old and had grown bigger and stronger. He was also getting more mischievous and running off more often. Simba was also starting to get his mane, which was nothing more than a tuft of hair the same color as his golden fur coat. Alongside of that, he looked a lot more like Mufasa than he did when he was first born. Sarabi enjoyed having her little cub look just like her good-looking mate.

"Mom! Why are you washing my face? It's only going to get dirty again." Simba complained as Sarabi licked his face.

"Because, we are going to meet Sarafina and Nala here today." She licked his face once more. "You want to look nice, don't you?"

"Well, I guess, but who are they?"

"Sarafina is a good friend of mine and Nala is her daughter. Nala's going to be your new play mate."

"So Nala's a girl????" Simba asked in shock.

"Yes, she is." Sarabi answered. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"I don't know, Mom, girls usually have cooties."

"And just where did you hear _this_ from?"

"Uncle Scar says it all the time. He said that's why he doesn't have any sisters." Simba answered.

"Well, Scar is incorrect about that." Sarabi laughed. "Girls are just as cootie-free as boys are." She nuzzled her son lovingly. "You look very handsome, Simba."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Now, Simba, when Sarafina and Nala arrive here, I expect you to act like a gentleman and be polite around them."

"But I'm not a gentleman! Gentlemen are MEN! I'm a lion!" Simba said acting tough.

"Okay, then act like a 'gentle lion'." Sarabi corrected herself. "And that _includes_…" With that, Sarabi lowered her head to Simba's ear and whispered something. Simba reacted in a disgusted way when he heard what she said.

"But Mom!" He complained.

"Now Simba, it'll be quick, okay?"

"But…" Simba tried to argue, but Sarabi gave him the 'don't start with me' look. "…okay."

"That's my boy." She nuzzled Simba. "I promise you, you're going to have a lot of fun with Nala."

A blue bird with a red and yellow beak flew around above Simba and Sarabi. He was keeping his eyes out for Sarafina and Nala to arrive. This particular day, the hornbill was excited. Mufasa and Sarabi had told him about their plans to betroth Simba to Nala, so being the king's majordomo, he strictly agreed upon it and swore to do whatever he could to support it. The hornbill, flying high and above, spotted the two lionesses arriving at the water hold and morphed into his "excited majordomo" mode.

"Your majesty, young master, they're here!" The hornbill began to fly around frantically again.

"Are they, Zazu?" Sarabi asked.

"Yes! Just look over there!" Zazu replied pointing to Sarafina and Nala, who were just arriving. "Today's the day!"

With that, Sarafina, with Nala right behind her, arrived into the water hole where Sarabi and Simba were. Nala, who was hiding behind her mother's hind legs, was already shy of the two lions in front of here. Simba, who wasn't the most excited animal about this, only gave Nala a weird look at how much she was shaking and barely peaking out. Sarabi and Sarafina greeted each other before they went on to introduce their cubs to one another.

"Good morning, Sarabi." Sarafina said to her.

"Good morning, Sarafina." She looked down at Nala. "And good morning to you too, Nala."

"And just who is this handsome young lion in front of me?" Sarafina looked down at Simba. "Young Simba, is it?" He nodded in reply, but annoyed at the same time.

"Well, it's a beautiful day here today." Sarabi commented.

"Perfect for playing here at the water hole." Nala's mother then gave her a tap on her tail end signaling her to move forward. "Nala, why don't you go say hello to Simba?" Nala moved forward a little and Sarafina also gave her a little push.

"Simba, why don't you go say hello to Nala?"

"Mom…" Simba complained in a whispered manner.

"Simba." Sarabi said firmly, yet in a hushed manner.

Nala, who was already in front of her mother, watched as Simba made his way in front of his mother to introduce himself to her. The two cubs had different impressions. Nala was just shy and nervous while Simba was just plain annoyed that he had to meet this cub when he already had a friend. After Nala and Simba were right in front of each other, Nala looked up at Simba, who had his face held low so he could hide his annoyance from her.

"Hello Nala, I'm very pleased to meet you." Simba said without enthusiasm.

"Please to meet you, Simba." Nala said in her normal way as Simba walked back to his mother ignoring her.

"There, can we go now, Mom?" Simba asked.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sarabi asked.

"Mom…" He complained knowing what was coming next.

Sarabi just simply pointed back over to where Nala was and Simba made his way back over there. Nala, who had a look of interest toward him at first, now had a look that read 'this kid was rude for walking out on me like that'. Simba stood in front of Nala and then took her paw in his paw. Confused about what Simba was doing, Nala just sat there not trying to take her paw back, but she still gave him the death glare for walking out on her while she was introducing herself. Simba, with a look of dread upon his face, bent his head down and quickly kissed her paw.

"Ew!" They both said at the same time. Nala took her paw back and Simba wiped his mouth with his paw.

"What'd you do that for?" Nala asked disgusted.

"I didn't want to do it! My mom made me do it!" Simba argued. "Besides, it wouldn't be so gross if you didn't have cooties!"

"Simba!" Sarabi scolded.

"Yeah, well you're just a gross boy!"

"Nala!" Sarafina scolded Nala.

"Now, now, children!" Zazu got in between the two feuding cubs. "That's no way to talk to each other! We are a pride, so let's just say sorry to each other and move on."

"No!" Both cubs yelled.

"I said it first!" Simba yelled.

"No I did!" Nala yelled afterwards.

With that, Simba and Nala started going at each other. Sarabi and Sarafina, not knowing what to do about them, pulled each of their cubs away from each other. Nala was picked up by the neck and Simba had his mother's paw on his tail keeping him from going any further towards Nala. Eventually, Simba realized that he wasn't going anywhere, so he stopped and calmed down. Sarabi then pulled her cub close to her so he was underneath her. Sarafina also allowed Nala to climb on top of her back.

"I guess that didn't go so well." Sarafina pointed out.

"I'm really sorry. Simba's not usually like this." Sarabi apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Both of our cubs acted improper today. Unfortunately, we may not get some social time together if our cubs can't get along together."

"Oh don't worry, we can just leave them both alone with Zazu."

"As in I would be in charge." Zazu, who was perched on Sarabi, pointed out.

"No, not banana beak!" Simba complained.

"That's MR. Banana Beak to you!"

"Besides, if I'm alone with Nala, she'll give me the cooties!"

"Oh yeah, well your fleas will give me a…a…sick thing!" Nala spat back at Simba.

"You want some?" Simba asked in a smart-alecky manner and held out his arm.

"Ew!"

"Okay, Simba, that's enough!" Sarabi said picking her son up by the back of the neck.

"You too, Nala." Sarafina said. "I'm afraid this might not go as planned." She said referring to their plan to betroth them.

Disappointed, Sarafina picked up Nala by the back of the neck and started walking back to Pride Rock with Sarabi. During the walk, both cubs kept glares at each other swearing that they were mortal enemies for life.

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**Author's Note: Excuse me for the lame ending, but I couldn't think of any better way to end this. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I love hearing reviews from you guys!**


	5. Competition

**Author's Note: Here's chapter 5! In this chapter, Simba and Nala are just about the same age that they are in the beginning of the first movie and I'll be including some lion cubs that are from other Lion King sources in this chapter and throughout the fanfic. Sorry for the long, long, long, long, long wait! But, Hakuna Matata, the fanfic is still alive! Anyway, here's the chapter!**

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Chapter 5: Competition

Another three months had passed by. This time, Nala had doubled in size and was a lot more active. The month before, Nala had started going to 'school' with other female lion cubs where they learn how to hunt and fend for themselves. During the course, Nala had become really good friends with a young lion cub named Kula. She was just as active as Nala was also had a thing against boys as well with the exception of her twin brother, Chumvi, who the two cubs would play with during their free time. Nala and Kula have been learning of the basics of life in the Pridelands for the past month and that has made them stronger and more active in their daily lives.

Besides playing with her new friends, Kula and Chumvi, Nala has also spent the past three months avoiding Simba. Unfortunately, because they live in the same pride, they have no choice but to see each other. Whenever they saw each other, the two cubs would glare at each other and move on with whatever they were doing. Occasionally, the two cubs would have arguments and they would have to be broken up by their friends. For the most part, they'd ignore each other. This made it easier on Sarafina and Sarabi, who would constantly get sick and tired of breaking them up.

Today was a particular day where Sarafina was going to let Nala go to the water hole by herself with Kula and Chumvi for the first time. The main reason actually was because Sarafina was getting close to having hers and Ni's new cub. Nala was actually looking forward to having a new little brother or sister. She was naturally hoping for it to be a girl so she could teach it how to hunt, but Sarafina warned her that it could be a boy. Nala was still happy that her mom was going to be happy having a new cub. She also bonded with Ni very well.

Early that morning, Nala woke up to watch the sun rise up and shine on Pride Rock. She used to do that on the tip of the front of Pride Rock, but because Simba was doing it as well, she moved to the side of the rock. After greeting the sunrise and glaring at Simba, who was at the tip of Pride Rock, she trotted back over to where Sarafina and Ni were still sound asleep. According to where the sun was now, it was time for Sarafina to start going hunting with the rest of the lionesses for breakfast.

"Mom! It's time to wake up! You have to go get us breakfast now!" Nala started shaking her mother.

"Really?" She asked sleepy. Nala nodded. Sarafina woke up, stretched herself out, and then headed off into the Pridelands to do some hunting. There's been a history where Ni had always woken up grumpy and hungry in the morning, so Nala sat with him making sure that he didn't wake up.

"Where's…my…food?" Ni started talking in his sleep. Nala grinned mischievously and crept down to where Ni's ear was.

"It's in your belly." She said in a creepy voice.

"My…belly?"

"It crawled into your mouth while you were sleeping."

"Crawled…mouth…sleeping?"

"And now, it's evil spirit is going to eat your insides out." Nala finished loudly.

"EAT MY INSIDES????" Ni shot up from his sleeping position at the speed of light and started panting hard.

"Morning, Ni." Nala said looking innocent. "You look scared."

"I had this…weird dream where…this evil spirit said that my food was going to eat my insides out." Nala giggled as Ni tried to explain his "dream". He looked down at her realizing who the "evil spirit" was. "Was it you?"

"I'm not telling." Nala then turned around and started trotting away.

"Oh no you don't!" Ni chased Nala and cornered her. She then started to wrestle with him. Ni found himself lying on the ground with Nala on his back with his ear in her mouth. "Impressive. You have the skills of a true hunter."

"We're pals, right?" Nala asked.

"Right."

"Guys, how many times have I told you? No wrestling around young children." The two lions looked up and saw Sarafina carrying part of a zebra.

"What children?" Ni asked. Him and Nala then looked behind them and saw Nala's friends, Kula and Chumvi, looking up at them with big eyes.

"Hi Nala!" Kula greeted her friend.

"You guys ready to go?" Nala asked. The twins nodded. Sarafina set the zebra down in front of herself and began eating. "Mom, can I go?"

"Without eating breakfast?" She asked shocked since Nala was one who never skipped out on meals.

"We'll find a dead bird or something at the water hole." The twins then dashed off and Nala followed them. "See you later!"

Sarafina, while she gnawed on the dead animal, watched her young daughter run off with her friends in happiness. She felt a kick from her new cub and chuckled at it. Ni came over and nuzzled her knowing that soon enough, their new son or daughter would be here and they would be a complete family.

"Has it really been this long?" Ni asked.

"Yes. Time has flown by, quick." Sarafina answered. "Soon enough, before we know it, Nala is going to be all grown up. She'll be married and have her own cubs."

"Same with our cub." Ni was in deep thought for a moment. Then, he turned and spoke to Sarafina again. "What if the cub doesn't like me?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, it's just that…I don't know anything about raising a family really. My father was never there for me, so I never knew how to be a good father."

"Oh Ni, when I was pregnant with Nala, I never knew how to be a mother either." Sarafina nuzzled Ni making an effort to comfort him. "But…the minute I saw her the first time, it's like I suddenly knew what to do. You just…know. It's almost like a parental instinct. I was suddenly able to know when Nala was hungry, what to do if she got hurt, how to track her down if she got away, you know what I'm talking about, right?" Ni nodded. "So, don't worry about it. You'll be a great father to the cub and the cub will love you."

"I hope so. But, I still just can't help but worry."

"About what?"

"Well…there's…something you should know."

"You're not gay are you?" Sarafina suddenly asked.

"No." Ni laughed and shook his head. "But…I am very short-tempered. If someone ticks me off enough, I'll start to attack them. I've seen how you've had to scold Nala for things she's done wrong and now, it worries me that our cub is going to do something wrong and I'm going to beat the living daylights out of them."

"Ni, when you have a child, there's a special bond that grows between you and the child the minute they're born. When you first hold that cub in your arms, you realize, wow, I've created this little miracle. When you look at it that way, there's only one thought that goes through your mind and it's that you will do what ever you can to keep that child alive. You'll love them, care for them, and risk your life for them. There are times when you want to just blow your top off at them, but looking back at how much you go through to have your child, you realize that nothing can break that bond." Sarafina explained.

"How do you know all this?"

"When I was a teenager, I had my first boyfriend and I foolishly thought I was going to marry him and have cubs with him, but I had a talk very similar to this one with my mother about having a cub when you're ready so that you can truly have that bond. And she was right. When I was that age, I was still wanting to hang around with my friends and enjoy life. I wasn't ready to sacrifice my life to take care of a cub. If I did have a cub, I probably would've just left it with my mother and gone off to play and then I wouldn't be able to bond with it that well. Because I waited, I'm able to have a special bond with Nala and truly love her."

"Wow, you've got a point there." Ni agreed. "So, you really think I'll be okay?"

"I know you'll be okay. You've never hurt me once during your short-tempered moments and you'll never hurt me or Nala or the cub."

"If you say so." Ni chuckled and nuzzled Sarafina.

Aside from our happy couple, Nala and her young friends were racing each other down to the water hole. Being the daughter of a strong lion king, Nala was very fast and could outrun most of the lion cubs in the pride(with the exception of Simba, but she hated to admit that). Even Chumvi couldn't outrun her. The three cubs arrived at one of the most beautiful parts of the Pridelands. The waterfalls flowed down to their running streams, zebras and antelope grazed on the grass, elephants bathed their young in the lakes, and they could even recognize some of the pride's fellow lionesses sun bathing out in the boiling hot sun.

Nala got up close to one of the water hole's few lakes and saw hundreds of fish swimming around in circles just waiting to be eaten. She wanted to put her skills that she's been learning about in school to the test. So far, none of the three cubs had learned much, but they wanted to get ahead of the game. Kula and Chumvi watched as their friend stepped to the very edge of the lake and rose her paw ready to strike a large fish. Nala swung her paw, but missed completely. Instead, she accidentally splashed a good amount of water onto a lioness that was lying down nearby.

"Hey kids, try and keep the splashing to a minimum, okay?" The lioness asked.

"Sorry." Nala apologized. She and the twins then moved down a few yards till they were in their own little spot. "Looks like we have a lot more to learn before we can catch fish."

"We have a lot to learn before we can even catch ANYTHING." Kula added in.

"Now I wish I had eaten breakfast before leaving because I'm starving now and I can't catch anything."

"Yeah, I'm starving too." Chumvi agreed.

"Chumvi, we had a huge hunk of antelope for breakfast not too long ago. How can you be hungry?" His sister asked.

"I'm a boy, it's food, do the math."

"Why don't we just forget about it and…go play a different game?" Kula offered.

"Yeah, good idea. The only way I'm going to get food at this rate is if it falls from the sky." Nala sighed.

Then, in the blink of an eye, a dead bird fell right in front of the hungry lion cub. She stared at it wide-eyed and looked up to find nothing there. Hungry, she dove in to tear at the bird's flesh and saw a blinding flash dash right before her eyes. Nala saw that the bird was gone and looked to see her worst nightmare and one other cub just a couple feet away from her. Simba stood there with the bird hanging from his mouth and with a smirk on his face. Simba's friend, who looked like he could pass off as Simba's twin except for he had blue eyes, also had the same look on his face.

"Simba…" Nala said in an irritated tone.

"Nala…" Simba also said in the same tone.

"I believe that's my breakfast."

"No, I believe it belongs to me." Simba set the dead animal next to him. "I caught it and the animal who catches it gets to eat it. So, go play your girly games while I enjoy my snack."

"Try this. The bird fell onto the ground from above." Nala spat back.

"Wrong again. I caught the bird up in the tree and I threw it down to you. I felt bad for you since you sounded _so hungry_. So, I thought I'd catch you a little something."

"What's the catch?" Kula asked. "There has to be a catch."

"Kula's right." Nala agreed. "You don't even like me, so why are you trying to feed me."

"You're smart, you know that? Kula's right. There is a catch."

"Okay…name it."

"Admit that boys are stronger, faster, and better than girls."

"No way!" Nala spat out. "If boys are so much better, then why are _we _doing all the hunting while you boys are sitting on your butts all day?"

"Because we have to protect everyone and we need food so we can do that, so…you got the picture." Simba answered.

"We don't believe it!" Kula defended herself and Nala.

"Yeah, if you think you're so much better, prove it." Nala agreed.

"Fine. Tojo, you know what to do, right?" Simba asked his friend.

"You got it, pal!" Tojo then walked past the girls and over to Chumvi. "So, Chumvi, who's better? Your little girlfriends or _us_?"

"Um…" Chumvi looked around and saw all four lion cubs staring him down. Now, if Chumvi was an only child, he'd definitely be siding with Simba right now, but because he had his younger twin sister to defend, he had no choice but to side with Nala.

"Sorry Tojo, but I'm on Nala and Kula's sides." Chumvi answered with his head low.

"That's my big bro." Kula nuzzled her twin.

"Well, that settles it!" Nala finished up.

With that, Nala kicked some dirt in Simba's direction and began going off with Kula and Chumvi. Simba and Tojo looked at each other like Chumvi had lost his mind. Tojo decided that was done feuding with the other group and was ready to go play in the water. Simba, on the other hand, wasn't. He had a stubborn personality and it was kicking in right about now. Simba wanted to prove that boys were better, so he left Tojo, who was drinking from the lake, and ran off towards Nala's group. Being the son of King Mufasa, Simba was also very fast and was able to catch up. He sped up and stopped them in their tracks.

"I'm not done yet." Simba stomped his paw.

"Just how do you plan to keep going?" Kula asked.

"A competition!"

"Are you serious? Why don't you just move on?" Nala asked annoyed.

"Never! A future king NEVER gives up!"

"Or grows up." Kula murmured to Nala. The two girls laughed and then got a glare from Simba.

"You know what, Simba? Fine, I accept your challenge."

"Cool. So what do I get if I win?"

"Whoever wins…" Nala paused for a moment and the two competitors thought of a prize. "…aha! Whoever wins, gets the spot on the very front tip of Pride Rock during the sunrise."

"What?" Simba asked in total shock. "No way! I'm the future king, so I get that spot!"

"You afraid to lose to a bunch of girls?" Kula asked in a teasing matter.

"Fine! It's a deal! But get this…" Simba then got closer to the girls and lowered his voice to a whisper. "…I've never lost a SINGLE race."

"Who said anything about racing?" Nala asked.

The cubs then divided up into two teams. Tojo, who had heard about their little competition, decided to join in. Since there were an odd number of cubs, one sat out. Chumvi decided to referee since he couldn't compete on Nala's team even though he was on her side. For a while, the competing cubs spent time training for the competition's events. One of them was to be a 100 meter race, one of them was to be a diving event, and then the third one would be an obstacle course. Simba and Nala were pretty confident about each of them winning while Kula and Tojo on the other hand were a bit more nervous and it wasn't even a big deal of a competition.

In the afternoon, after a morning of working out(and eating lunch at Pride Rock), the cubs met up on a long dirt trail for the first event. It was the 100 meter race, which Simba declared he would win since he's never lost a race before. Nala was just as stubborn as Simab though, and wasn't going to give up. The four cubs waited at the starting line for the race to begin. Chumvi, who was all the way down at the finish line, held his paw up signaling them to get ready and then dropped it when the race started. Simba, just as he predicted, won he race while Nala came in for a close second. Kula came in third and then Tojo, who unfortunately wasn't that fast, came in last place.

"Well…that's already one down." Simba said in a show off manner. He then walked over to Tojo, who felt like he had let Simba down. "Don't worry, Tojo, we'll be them in the next event and then there's no way they can win the obstacle course.

"Thanks Simba." Tojo thanked him. While Simba was a jerk to Nala and Kula, you could definitely tell that he was friendly towards his friends, family, and other animals.

"We…lost." Nala said irritated as she was huffing and puffing.

"Yeah…but…" Kula added in and she panted. "…the next one…takes…skill, which is something that we, girls, have better than them."

"Right."

The next one was quite simple. Near a quiet lake was a tall ledge. Each of the cubs had to do some sort of artistic dive as they jumped off. This one required judging, so a few friendly monkeys that lived in the big tree there offered to lend them their help. Kula was up first. She did pretty well except for when it came to actually diving into the water head first, she was kind of at a not too good angle. Simba was up next. He wasn't that artistic or accurate, so he failed miserably on this event. Tojo did much better than Simba possibly allowing the boys to win the event, but then when it was Nala's turn, that turned the competition around. Nala nailed a perfect dive. It included a high jump with about 5 front flips and diving into the water head first at a perfect angle. The monkeys agreed that the girls had won that event.

"Man, I can't believe we didn't win." Simba grunted.

"Yeah, and we were close too." Tojo agreed.

"We HAVE tow in the obstacle course. I never thought the competition would come this close. I thought we'd swamp the girls in all three events."

"I guess it's not smart to assume then, huh?"

"You're right about that." Simba scoffed.

"Okay, so we won this one." Kula said. "The next event is the obstacle course. I'm pretty sure we'll win it."

"I don't know." Nala said looking over at Simba. "Simba's really fast and you saw him in that last race."

"True, but the biggest part of finishing an obstacle course is using skill, which the boys don't seem to have, so…"

"Oh, I know what you're getting to." Nala caught on. "Now, I think this competition's ours." Chumvi trotted over to the girls after they were done talking.

"You girls ready for the obstacle course?" He asked. They both nodded and went over to where they were starting. "Okay, this is the big one. Whoever wins this, their team wins. Now, here's the course. Race down this path till it forks to the left. When that happens, you have to climb the first tree and swing over to the next tree using the vines. If you fall from the vines, you're out and you can't continue. Once you're in the next tree, you have to find a violet hornbill and ask it to carry you over to the biggest rock that's up the waterfall where all the elephants are. If your hornbill drops you, you're out, so choose carefully. Once you've arrived on the rock, you have to hop on ALL the elephants and make it back here. If you fall off the elephants, you lose. Anyway, everything all clear? And you can't cheat because those same monkeys that helped us with the diving event are watching you as you go, so don't bother." Chumvi explained the rules. "So, you ready?" All the cubs readied on the starting line. "On your marks…"

"Hey…" Tojo whispered to Kula, who was right next to him. "…um, I couldn't say this in front of Simba, but…um…I think you're pretty."

"Really?" Kula asked blushing. "Thank you."

"Do you want to…maybe eat dinner and watch the sunset together sometime?" He asked a little nervously.

"Get set…" Chumvi continued.

"Okay." Kula nodded. Hers and Tojo's paws then touched as they smiled at each other. Simba and Nala on the other hand…

"Ready to lose?" Simba asked dragging his paw through the dirt.

"You wish." She replied.

"GO!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chumvi then allowed the four cubs to begin the course. Simba started off in the lead because he was obviously the fastest of the cubs. It was when it came to the really skilled parts of the course where Simba started to fall behind. Kula and Tojo both struggled with the vine swinging after climbing up the tree. Both of the cubs looked at each other and agreed to drop out of the race and leave this to Simba and Nala. They let go of the vines at the same time and landed onto the ground laughing. It was then, that Kula and Tojo's friendship had officially begun.

With Tojo and Kula out of the race, this gave Simba and Nala more choices as to which hornbill was strong enough to carry them up the waterfall. Nala was able to find a young male who was all freshened up. Simba also found a young male, but he was one who had just recovered from an injured wing, so he almost dropped Simba. Nala made it up the waterfall just fine, but Simba had just barely made before the hornbill collapsed from exhaustion. This far in the course, it was still very close. Nala was leading with Simba trailing just right behind her.

"Finished yet?" Simba asked tired.

"Never." Nala answered also tired. "I'll never give in." With that, Nala leaped off the rock and onto the first elephant trying to stay on.

"Neither will I!"

Simba also leaped onto an elephant and the cubs started hopping around each elephant. Nala looked behind and saw Simba struggling and laughed at it. It was when Simba really messed up that turned the whole competition around. It turned the competition around so much that it was no longer a game. It had become a situation of life or death. Simba was leaping to the next elephant when his back foot slipped he started to slide off the elephant. Immediately following his instincts, he stuck his claws out trying to hold on, but he ended up accidentally scratching the elephant and spooking it.

The one elephant had a meltdown and then caused the other elephants to have a meltdown as well. All eight elephants that were once relaxing in the water were now stampeding around trying to find what spooked them. Nala, who was on one of them was holding onto the elephant by its ear with her teeth. Each of the cubs' elephants, who were swinging their heads back and forth both threw the cubs up into the air and they landed into the water where the stampede continued. There were so many two thousand pound elephants pounding their enormous feet around the small cubs and so many close calls when it came to getting crushed.

Nala had ducked into the water at some point and then came back up for air. She looked around and didn't see Simba or any of her friends. Freaked out, she started diving in and out of the water looking for them. Nala was also freaking out because she couldn't see Simba. Even if she didn't like the cub, he was still part of the pride and she couldn't just leave him or else he'd get crushed, which would break Mufasa and Sarabi's hearts.

"Kula! Chumvi!" She called out their names. No answer, so Nala attempted to call out for Simba. "Simba! Simba! Where are you?" Nala looked up and saw the largest elephant in the group and his foot coming down towards her.

"Nala! Look out!"

It was when the elephant's foot was about a foot away from her when she heard a voice and felt someone knock her out of the way. Nala was knocked to the edge of the river where she got out and onto land where she was safe for the time being. She looked over to where the largest elephant was and saw someone's head poke out of the water gasping for breath right underneath the elephant's foot. It was Simba! Simba had just barely caught his breath when he was dragged back under water.

"Simba!" Nala called out his name.

She had to do something if he just saved her life like that. Luckily, the elephants had cleared out of the river and went stampeding through the rainforest that was nearby. With the river now empty, Nala went running around at the edge looking for any signs of Simba. No sign. She ducked her head under the water every now and then to see if he was there. There was no Simba. Nala then looked down the river where the waterfall was and started running towards it. She looked down the tall falls and climbed down the large rocks that were next to the waterfall.

Nala climbed all the way down till she was at the river near where they started the obstacle course. While down there she could see bubbles at the top of the river. She only took one guess. It had to be Simba. Nala jumped into the running river only to find herself being sucked into the currents. While fighting the currents, she saw a figure. She fought the currents and swam closer to the figure to make out who it was. It was Simba. Simba floated there under water almost lifeless with his foot caught between two rocks.

"Simba…" Nala said to herself.

Even with the currents still fighting against her, Nala swam over to where Simba was and started trying to move the rocks. They didn't budge. Nala needed Simba to wake up so he could help her. She started nuzzling him and his eyes cracked open a bit. He could see Nala right in front of him and then saw that his foot was caught and started wiggling it hoping that it would wiggle free. Nala nodded meaning that he should keep doing it. She started banging herself against the rocks until they moved enough for Simba to swim free.

While under water, Nala passed out from exhaustion and started floating with the currents again. Simba, who was still under water, swam over and grabbed Nala by the scruff of her neck and carried her over to the edge of the river where the two cubs both got out catching their breaths. Nala slowly opened her eyes while on land to find the cub that saved her life(twice) looking down at her with a sign of relief. She realized then that even if he was a jerk to her, he truly cared about her and that's why he saved her.

"Why? Why'd you save me?" Nala asked still lying down.

"Well, I couldn't just let you get crushed there." Simba replied, this time, with meaning.

"But…"

"I know. You thought I didn't like you. I thought so too. But, then I realized that the only reason I didn't like you was because of some stupid gesture my mom made me do when we first met. You're actually cool, cooler than I thought."

"Really?" Nala asked getting up. Simba nodded.

"And, you're pretty darn brave too. I don't know any other cub besides myself who would dive into running water like that to save me, especially since I was a jerk."

"Well, I was kind of a jerk too." Nala admitted it. "You're really cool, too. I'd always think of the future king being a snob just because he's going to be king, but, you're actually really nice. And you were very brave to jump underneath that elephant for me. That was really cool."

"So, you want to just forget about all of this and start over?" Simba asked.

"Sure."

"Okay. Hello, my name is Simba."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Nala."

"Cool. So, you want to be friends?"

"Okay, sounds fun." Nala agreed. Simba and Nala then, for the first time, clapped their paws together beginning their new friendship.

Later, Simba and Nala walked home together while Chumvi, Kula, and Tojo went home earlier than them. Back at Pride Rock, Sarabi and Sarafina were having a regular girl-to-girl conversation when they saw the most shocking thing that they had ever seen. Simba and Nala walking together? The only time they would see their cubs together would be when they're ripping each other's throats out, but not this time. Sarabi and Sarafina met their cubs down at the bottom of Pride Rock curious to what was going on and why they liked each other now.

"You kids walking home together?" Sarafina asked them when they met up.

"What's going on?" Sarabi asked.

"Nothing really." Simba replied. "Except Nala and I are friends now."

"That's my boy." She then licked her son on the cheek repeatedly.

"Mom! That's gross!" Simba then wiped his cheek with his paw after Sarabi was done.

"So Nala, how did this happen?" Sarafina asked out of curiosity.

"It's a long story." Nala answered.

"Well, do tell. Sarabi and I are in no rush." Both lionesses lay down so they could listen to their cubs' story.

"Well…" Nala began.

Simba and Nala sat in front of their mothers ready to tell the tale of how their rivalry became a beautiful thing known as friendship.

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**Author's Note: Again! I know it's been forever! It's not my fault! Blame writer's block and school(end of semester, yuck)! Anyway, yeah, in case you don't know who the other cubs are, Kula and Chumvi are from **_**Nala's Dare**_** from the **_**Six New Adventures**_** book and Tojo is from this Lion King comic from outside the US. Also, I did kind of borrow the elephant stampede idea from **_**Tarzan**_**, so no need to point that out. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and we'll probably start on going through the actual Lion King plot either next chapter or the chapter afterwards.**


	6. Murder

**Author's Note: Chapter 6 is here! Okay, I lied. We're not going to be starting the actual Lion King plot until next chapter, sorry. There's too much to cover before we start following the movie, so yeah. I'm giving this chapter a special rating of T because of violence and I might end up bumping up the rating to T anyway because I tend to write dark and violent chapters. Anyway, here's the chapter! **

* * *

Chapter 6: Murder

Tojo, who was introduced last chapter as Simba's good friend, was going out with his mother tonight. It was a beautiful night in the Pridelands. Sprits were high, lionesses were in a good mood, and the stars were all out tonight. In fact, Mufasa had declared that tonight, the pride would celebrate because it was such a beautiful day. All of the lion cubs were especially excited for tonight because they could stay up later than usual instead of going to bed soon after the moon rises up. There was also a fun game for the lion cubs there the lionesses would stand in a circle and, with their heads, throw the lion cubs up and catch them.

It was definitely a fun filled evening for everyone. Rafiki put his stick between two boulders and now everyone was doing the limbo and singing "How low can you go"? They especially chanted it loud for Mufasa, who was easily the tallest lion in the pride and failed miserably at playing limbo. Of course the cubs beat the adults due to how small they were still. It was still fun though for the lionesses loved playing around with the cubs. Sarafina, though, spent the time relaxing since time was approaching for when she will have hers and Ni's cub.

Rafiki had led other monkeys in a drum-playing session and everyone started to dance to it. Even a few animals who lived in the savanna asked to join in as long as, of course, the lions don't eat them. Mufasa was very respectful of his people of the jungle, so he agreed. It had been a few days since Simba and Nala had become friends and they were growing closer and closer to each other. Them and their mothers spent the entire evening together talking and playing together. Simba even played with Chumvi and Kula, who had grown to like Simba as well.

Now, let's get back to Tojo. Tojo was a cub who was very loyal to the pride, but wanted to start his own pride when he grew up, so tonight, while the rest of the pride were feasting(after their herbivore friends left) on the food that the lionesses caught during the day, Tojo and his mother, a beautiful lioness named Tsuki, were going to go out hunting together. Tsuki wanted to teach her son how to hunt so he could fend for himself until he starts a pride.

Tsuki excused herself from the feast and took her son out into the pitch dark savannah where there were still gazelles grazing on the green grass. Tojo, although he never admitted it to his friends, was always a mama's boy, so he always enjoyed going on outings like this. He rode on his mother's back looking at all of the bright stars in the sky until Tsuki found a good spot where she let Tojo off her back and onto the ground. He stared up at her with his bright blue eyes and she looked back down at him with her loving brown eyes.

"So, what're we doing tonight, Mom?" Tojo asked.

"Well, Tojo, you know how you say you want to start your own pride when you grow up?" She asked. He nodded. "Well, in a pride, it's the lionesses that do the hunting, but when a lion is on his own, he must fend for himself until he finds some lionesses. So tonight, I'm going to teach you how to hunt."

"Why don't you just have me go to school with the girls?"

"Because unfortunately, the class is only for girls. It's Pride Rock law."

"Oh." Tojo said with his head low.

"But now you have me for a teacher. Isn't that a good thing?" Tsuki asked nuzzling her cub.

"Yeah, I guess." He nuzzled her back.

"Now, to start off your lesson, the most important thing to remember is you DON'T want to be seen." Tsuki started her lesson. "You want to crouch as low to the ground as possible." She crouched as she saw a tasty looking gazelle waiting to have its life ended by her.

"Stay low to the ground." Tojo then imitated his mother's crouching position. "Got it."

"Now, to get close, you have to crawl. Don't just try and walk with your legs bent. You'll be seen for sure, so you have to crawl."

"Like this?" Tojo asked a little too loud.

"Shh." Tsuki shushed him. "That is correct, but you have to be silent about it." Tojo then nodded and followed his mother. "Now, when you're close enough, you start dashing in and claiming your prey. You stay here while I show you an example of how it's done."

With that, Tsuki started dashing over towards the gazelle. The gazelle spotted her and began to run away. The poor, sad truth was that while the gazelle was fast, it started to run way too late. Tsuki was already within range where she could just leap and kill it, which was exactly what she did. She leapt and grabbed the animal by the neck killing it. Proud of her success, Tsuki dragged the dead animal by the leg over to her son, who was ready to eat it. After she left it in front of the cub, Tojo was about to start digging into the carcass when they were suddenly interrupted by someone.

"My, that looks _delicious_." The voice said. Tsuki turned around and saw a dark figure. It looked like a male lion.

"Yes it does. Would you care for some?" She offered.

"Some? Sounds a little cheap, don't you think?" Another voice said. The figure that this voice belonged to also looked like a male lion.

"No, I don't think so. I'm quite hungry and so is my son, so I think you should be thankful that we're even offering you any." Tsuki said irritated.

"Quite feisty, aren't we?"

"I happen to be a mother, so the feistiness has to come from somewhere."

"How about this…" Within a flash, Tsuki was then pinned to the ground by one of the male lions. He stood over her with one paw against her neck. "…either you hand over the food or it'll mean trouble for you." The voice that wasn't pinning Tsuki said.

"A-All this…for…a gazelle?" Tsuki asked trying to catch a breath.

"Mom!" Tojo yelled. "Give them the gazelle! We can have another one!"

"Yes. Listen to the little brat. He sounds a lot smarter than you right now." The walking male lion said in a sly manner.

"Hey! Don't call my mom stupid!"

Tojo then jumped on top of the male lion and started attempting to attack him. The lion then knocked Tojo off with his paw causing Tsuki's protective mother alarm to go off. She knocked the male lion that had her pinned to the ground off of her and she got into her defensive position. Tojo stood behind her shivering realizing that these lions were more scary than he thought. Her growl almost looked as if she had rabies. The two lions that she was up against weren't the least bit frightened by her one bit. The thinner one walked up close to her and even got in her face.

"Do you have any idea _who_ you're dealing with?" He asked.

"No, it's too dark to see who you are, but your voice sounds familiar." Tsuki answered still irritated.

"Oh, well that's too bad. It's also too bad you'll never live to see who you are."

"Is that a threat?" She asked getting ready to strike the lion.

"Kill her."

Within a flash, one of the male lions leapt onto Tsuki and started attacking her. He sank his teeth into her back. She let out a roar of pain and attempted to kick the lion off of her, but couldn't. The other male lion also began to attack her, but from the front. He grabbed her by the neck and bit down as hard as he could. Tsuki started the choke and couldn't breathe. Tojo watched his mother nearly get eaten alive in horror and couldn't move. He was so afraid. Tsuki let out another roar and started trying to attack the two lions. She was able to slash one of them across the face allowing her to back away from the lion that attacked her front, but he immediately got back to attacking her again. This time, he went after her leg.

Tsuki didn't understand why they were fighting. All this for just a stupid gazelle? No, not JUST for a gazelle, but for attacking Tojo as well. She wasn't going to give up, no matter how bad the situation was. Right now, she had one lion on her leg reminding her that her front paws were free, so she struck the lion in the front and kicked the lion in the back with her free leg without doing much damage. Tsuki then ran and picked up Tojo to hide him somewhere, but dropped him after her back leg was grabbed again. This gave the other lion the perfect opportunity to strike. He was about to strike her neck, but she lifted her face and got struck there instead. The lion still struck her neck anyway, so it just made her worse.

By this point in the fight, Tsuki had barely gotten hold of one of the lions. The best damage she did was slash him across the face. The rest of the damage was to her. She had a big gash in her back where one of them bit into her back. One of her back legs had the largest bite marks and was pouring blood. In her front, there were big slash marks across her neck and one of her eyes looked wounded almost as if it blinded her. Tsuki fell to the ground in pain. She tried to get up, but couldn't. Her strength had been drained and there was no way she could go on. One of the lions stood above her with his paw held high, but then set it back down. After snickering, him and the other lion walked off into the distance. Tsuki watched them walk off and then pass out.

"Mom!" Tojo called his mother's name. She was really worn out and could barely move. The young cub went over to his mom and nudged her face. "Mom?" Tsuki cracked open her one good eye and saw her little miracle looking down at her. "Please get up."

"I'm…" Tsuki began to say as she tried to lean up. "I'm…not sure I can."

"Yes you can! I know you can!" Tojo said trying to help his mother up. Tsuki, wanting to be there for her son, tried to get up, but collapsed back onto the ground. This time, there was no getting back up for her. She held out her paw and scooped Tojo over to her with it.

"My dear, Tojo. Can you do me a favor?" She asked. He nodded. "Remember everything that I taught you…and teach everything to your own cubs. Can you do that for me?"

"I…I guess so." Tojo answered wanting to cry. "But why do I have to know? You're going to be with me, right?"

"I'll be with you…Tojo…even if you can't see me." Tsuki said smiling weakly.

"What do you mean if I can't see? I can always see you."

Tojo sat there with his head low expecting his mother to say something, but nothing came out. After a few seconds of silence, Tojo lifted his head up to see his mother lying there lifeless. Her one good eye was shut and her mouth hung open as no breath came out from her. Tojo, panicking, ran around tapping her trying to get her up. There was no movement. There was no sound. The only thing that was there at the moment was a the body of Tojo's dead mother.

"Mom?" Tojo asked as he began to cry hoping that she would wake up. "Mom?" He then realized that he was all alone and that the one who would always comfort him couldn't. Tojo lay down on top of his mother's body and began to sob. "Mom!" He cried out for her wanting her comfort. The poor cub sat there crying his heart out.

After sobbing for a few minutes, he realized that she was gone and she wasn't coming back. Tojo got up and started walking back over to Pride Rock. He took one last look at his mother before he started walking away from her. Cold, tired, hungry, and lonely, Tojo walked slowly and cried the whole way. During this time, it had started to pour rain. With the wind blowing. This storm was not what Tojo had in mind as the perfect ending to a not-so-perfect evening. While walking, he accidentally slipped in a big mud puddle and got filthy. Normally, he'd go to his mother and ask her to soak him in a pond and then lick him all nice and clean, but now he couldn't. Tojo was going to have to walk home dirty and filthy.

"Tsuki? Tojo?"

Tojo looked up with puffy, red eyes from crying and heard a voice. This time, it wasn't an evil voice. It was a soft, pure voice coming from one of the lionesses. He looked ahead and saw that it was Sarabi. She was coming in his direction and next to her were Simba and Nala, his friends. Wanting some comfort and finally finding some, the sad cub walked forward and the three others made it over to Tojo where they looked at him with a sign of relief.

"Tojo! Where have you been?" Simba asked.

"You sure were gone for a long time." Nala said.

"Simba's right." Sarabi agreed. "You and Tsuki excused yourself from our feast--"

"And boy was it good! I'm stuffed!" Simba lay back with his paw on his stomach.

"My mom and the rest of the lionesses sure picked good meat tonight." Nala said also lying back.

"Anyway, as I was saying before getting interrupted…" Sarabi tapped Simba when she said 'interrupted'. "…you and Tsuki were gone for a long time and I was just coming to see if you guys are okay. Speaking of which, where is your mother?" Tojo, who was just sitting there looking at the other three put his head down and started sobbing again.

"Mom, what's wrong with Tojo?" Simba asked.

"He's obviously sad, Simba. The question is…why?" Nala answered for Sarabi.

"I think I might know why, but I have to see for myself." Sarabi said firmly. She brought the sobbing cub close to her. "Now Tojo, show me where your mother is." Tojo then led Sarabi and his friends on the distant walk back to where Tsuki's body was. It still remained there, just as fresh as it was not too long ago when she first died. "Oh no."

"Sarabi, what's wrong with Tsuki?" Nala asked. Even she didn't know what was wrong.

"She looks like she's not moving." Simba added in.

"Oh Tojo…" Sarabi looked down at Tojo and allowed him to cry on her. "…I'm so…sorry."

"Why did this have to happen?" He asked still crying.

"I don't know. It just…does. It's all part of the great circle of life."

"Why couldn't this happen to those stupid lions instead?" Tojo mumbled loud enough for Sarabi to hear.

"What stupid lions?"

"There were these two lions that wanted our food, so they attacked my mom and that's how she died."

"Lions killing lions?" Simba asked. "But I thought lions didn't eat other lions."

"They don't." Sarabi said. "Lions don't have to eat other lions to kill them. They can just attack them till they die."

"Sounds scary." Nala shuddered.

"Tojo, do you know who these lions are?" Sarabi asked.

"No. It was too dark to see who they were."

"Well, whoever they were, they must be from our pride. And we're going to find out who they are."

* * *

The next day, early in the morning, the pride was due on the outside of Pride Rock for "court". All of the lionesses and their cubs, Scar, Ni, even Rafiki and Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu, were all outside. They were going to find out who was the one killed Tsuki. It is the law of the Pridelands. If one kills another in the pride, they must be exiled from the pride. The lionesses sat outside all confused about what was going on. Even Sarafina had no clue what was going on. Sarabi sat in the front with Simba and Tojo wanting to get to the bottom of this immediately. Zazu looked and saw Mufasa approach the cave's mouth.

"All rise!" Zazu called out. Everyone outside stood up on all fours.

"You may be seated." Mufasa said after he entered the area. "You must be wondering why you're all here." All the lionesses nodded. "Well, this is why." He signaled for Scar and Ni to grab Tsuki's dead body and place it in front of Mufasa. All the lionesses gasped and whispered among each other. "No, you are not just seeing things. This is indeed, Tsuki, a member of our pride. She was killed last night in a cat fight with two other lions. If the fight was with two other lions, then they were probably from our pride."

"Mufasa." Scar spoke up. Mufasa looked over to his brother. "Permission to speak?"

"Yes."

"What are the odds that those other lions could've been from another pride?"

"Very low. We are the only pride here in the Pridelands."

"True, but we also frequently get visitors wandering into the Pridelands from different lands. There's just as much chance that these lions could've wondered into the Pridelands from somewhere else."

"We do get wandering visitors frequently." Mufasa began to speak. "But, our visitors are always solo travelers. There were two lions at the killing last night, so they must have come from a pride if they're a team, which means, they must've come from this pride."

"Mufasa." Ni spoke up. "Why don't we call up someone to the stand?"

"Very well. Rafiki, do your thing." Mufasa said to the mandrill.

"I call…" Rafiki closed his eyes and shook his stick. "…Tojo! I call Tojo to the stand." Tojo sat there not knowing what to do. Sarabi then gave him a tap of assurance and he made his way up there. Tojo hated seeing his mother dead, but he had to.

"Now Tojo…" Mufasa began to say. "…Rafiki's going to ask you a few questions and all you have to do is answer them, okay?" Tojo nodded. Rafiki then walked up to the cub.

"Tojo, what exactly happened last night?"

"Well…Mom was taking me out to the savanna to teach me how to hunt during the feast. So, while she's doing that, she caught us some dinner, but then these two lions came and told us to give them our food. Mom didn't want to, so they attacked her and then I attacked them and they attacked me and then she attacked them and they attacked her and she attacked them and they attacked her and…"

"All right! We get it!" Scar interrupted Tojo.

"So then what happened?" Rafiki asked.

"Then she got hurt and then they ran away. She died afterwards and that was it." Tojo said with his head low.

"Thank you, young one." Rafiki then allowed Tojo to go sit with the others.

"So from what we know, it happened during the party." Mufasa confirmed. "But, that doesn't make sense, everyone was at the party."

"Not quite, Mufasa. I call…" Rafiki began to shake his stick. "Zira! I call Zira to the stand!" All of the lionesses looked back at a tough-looking teenage lioness who was named Zira.

"Why?" She asked annoyed.

"Zira, don't argue, just come up here." Mufasa said firmly.

"Fine." Zira heaved a big sigh and sat up in front.

"Zira, you were not at the party last night, were you?" Rafiki asked.

"What makes you think I wasn't? There were lots of lionesses there."

"I know ALL the lionesses and I know you weren't there."

"So, what's your point?"

"Where were you?"

"I was out…" Zira began to answer.

"Ah! We're getting somewhere!" Rafiki declared.

"You didn't let me finish!" Zira yelled. "I was out with Scar!"

"That's right!" Zazu added in. "Scar and Ni weren't at the party either!"

"What were you doing with Scar?" Rafiki asked.

"Having dinner!" She got irritated.

"Dinner? As in, fighting some lioness for meat?"

"What are you…"

"Now wait just a minute!" Scar interrupted and got into Rafiki's face. "You do not just go and start blaming by mate like that! That is unacceptable! Why blame Zira? Why not blame Mufasa's mate, Sarabi?" With that, all the lionesses gasped.

"Me?" Sarabi asked in outrage. "You think I would go and kill a member of our pride?"

"You suddenly left afterwards!"

"For your information, we already decided that it occurred DURING the party." She argued. During this time, everyone starting arguing amongst each other.

"ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mufasa roared and shut everyone up. "Now, I think we've heard enough from Zira. Rafiki? Shall we continue?"

"Yes! I call…" He shook his stick. "Ni! I call Ni to the stand!" Ni gulped and then sat in front of Rafiki. "Ni, you weren't at the party last night. Of the entire pride, you, Scar, and Zira were the only ones missing. Where were you?"

"I was…in Pride Rock." Ni also lied.

"Hmm…well, I don't know what to say to that. Except…" Rafiki then got up to his face. "What is THAT?" He saw a slash across his face.

"I…uh…you know what, this is just ridiculous! If there's anyone to blame here, it's Mufasa!" Ni spoke up. Everyone gasped at this.

"I beg your pardon?" Mufasa started to get angry.

"Scar, Zira, and I weren't the only ones not at the party! Mufasa was missing as well!"

"I was talking with Sarafina." Mufasa argued.

"Oh you were?" Sarabi asked suspiciously.

"Great! So, you were trying to make a move on my mate?" Ni asked getting ticked off.

"How dare you!"

"No, he wasn't!" Sarafina spoke up.

"Is that so?" Sarabi asked Sarafina irritated. "Are you sure, about that?" With that, everyone argued again.

"EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone was then silent after hearing that terrible screech. "I know who did it!" A feminine, hoarse voice was heard from the way back. Everyone turned to look back.

"What is she doing here? She's supposed to sleep in until at least 10am every morning! It helps her grumpiness." Zazu said tapping his foot nervously.

"Who is she?" Ni asked.

"My…mother."

"Out of the way, punks!" A purple hornbill that looked identical to Zazu only she was old and more feminine looking pushed her way through the lionesses and made her way to the front.

"Zuzu…" Mufasa spoke her name as she made it to the front.

"That's my name." She said. "And back in my day when I was you father's majordomo, that was your first word, I recall."

"Mother, what are you doing here?" Zazu asked.

"Well, sonny, I heard about a trial for the homicide last night, so I thought I'd come check it out. Good thing I did. It was about to get ugly." Zuzu planted herself at the front. "Now, here's what I know. I was taking an evening flight last night trying to keep my wings in shape when suddenly, I saw that body. I flew down and saw footprints leading away from the body, so I followed them. There, I saw a lion. He was drinking from a pond. On his face, he had a slash that looked fresh like he had just gotten into a cat fight and up close, I could see fresh, red blood on his front paw. So, I knew that he was the murderer."

"So, who was it?" Zazu asked. "Was it anyone from here?"

"You're darn right." Zuzu answered. "It was THAT guy!" She pointed over to Ni, who looked horrified now. All the lionesses were talking amongst each other while Sarafina and Nala just stared at him with disbelief.

"Ni…how could you?" Mufasa asked.

"…" Ni didn't say anything.

"But there were two. So, who was the second one, Mother?" Zazu asked.

"I don't know. I didn't find a second one, but I'm going to guess that it was…"

"It was my buddy." Ni spoke up. "I…had a buddy who wandered here from outside the Pridelands. He fled overnight."

"So…you're confessing that you're guilty?" Mufasa asked. Ni nodded. "I trusted you, Ni, and you betrayed this pride. The court finds Ni guilty! He is now sentenced to lifelong exile from the Pridelands. If he is to return, the punishment, is death. Now, leave at once!" Mufasa turned to Ni, who was slowly getting up. "Leave now!!!"

Ni started walking over towards the lionesses, who stared at him with disbelief. The one, heartwarming, friendly lion to be found guilty of murdering a member of their pride. All of them were shocked, but the ones who were shocked the most were Sarafina and Nala. Sarafina, especially since she thought that Ni was going to be a great father to her new cub. She realized that she thought wrong. Ni tried to step forward to her, but Sarafina stepped back with Nala underneath her. Nala then stepped in front of her mother with a paw in front of her so she could be protected.

"I thought we were pals." Nala said with tears forming in her eyes.

"Nala…" Ni began to say. "I made a mistake."

"I can't believe I almost called you my father!" Nala then ran inside of Pride Rock crying. Sarafina sat there glaring at Ni.

"You really deceived us, Ni."

"Sarafina, I can explain…"

"Explain what?" Sarafina choked out. She was tearing up too. "How you were worried about your bad temper around our cub? Well now I know why you truly were worried. It's because you are a killer and a liar! You lied to us! I'm already ticked that you lied to me, but the fact that you deceived Nala draws the line! That child never knew her real father and found a father figure inside of you. And now…she's lost all hope in you."

"Sarafina, please…" Ni began to say.

"No!" Sarafina smacked him away without bringing her claws out. "I want you to go, Ni. And I don't want you to be a father to my new cub. I don't want you to ever come back. I'm not going to let children follow in your paw prints. So, just…run away and never return."

Ni took that harshly. He had his head low and started walked through the other lionesses, who also glared at him. Starting with Sarafina, with tears streaming out of her eyes, she roared at Ni as a sign that she's driving him away. Then, one by one, each of the lionesses started roaring at him driving him away. Before fully leaving, Ni took one last look at a crying Sarafina and was off to his new life.

Sarafina went inside of Pride Rock and comforted her sobbing daughter. She held Nala in her arms assuring her that everyone was safe now. Little did they know of the events yet to come.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow! Lots going on! I now realize that this fanfic seems to be a darker version of the Lion King as well as Nala's POV. So yeah, I promise you that the next chapter will start following the movie! Sorry, it took so long to get to that point. Anyway, so yeah. Please leave a review so I know what to work on. And also, I'm debating whether or not to use the songs (well, at least **_**Can't Wait to be King **_**and **_**Can you feel the love tonight?**_**) from the movie in the fanfic. What do you think? Vote "yes" or "no" in you review please!**


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